It is widely used for controlling heating cuttlng, motors be careful here, it only works with certain types of motorand high-power stage lighting, just to name a few uses. I bought one to control a popcorn popper to roast coffee. The popper was getting too hot so I needed to be able to control its temperature and had read about using this device for the purpose.

You just plug in the power cord and you can use the 3-way switch for Var iableOffand Full. It is spec'ed to be able to handle 15 amps W. Touching the backplate, with the unit not even on full power, I could only stand the heat for about seconds.

This was designed to provide intermittent power to a router, not continuous power to a heating element. The heatsink cost freigh more than a replacement chip and some time and labor but I like freeight 'do it right the first time' old IBM sloganor in this case, the second or third time ;whenever I have the luxury to do so.

The backplate on the controller, which serves as a poor heatsink, measures mm x 54mm. You can get a heatsink on eBay that closely fits those dimensions but, for a dollar more, I opted to get this oversized one.

I decided that the easiest way to do this was to simply detach the components from the backplate and mount them directly to the heatsink. Upon removing the backplate's 4 screws, the first thing to do is to detach the mounted components from the backplate. Drill out the rivet holding the 2 green ground wires.

Not done yet. The inside of the rivet still has the crimped sleeve attached to it. I carefully drilled that out with a drill bit that was small harborr to avoid damaging the rings of the terminals on the ground lsot. I also removed the hanging clip from the backplate so I could use the plate as a cuutting for drilling the holes in the heatsink. Frfight was horrified to see what the manufacturer thought was a heatsink.

There are so many things wrong with that. First of all, a heatsink has, you know…, finsto dissipate slot cutting router bit harbor freight number heat quickly, not act as a thermal mass, building up heat numer the point where it burns your fright.

Second, a cuttint is nice and smooth on the side where you mount your heat-generating component. I've even seen where over-clocking fanatics will actually lap their heat sinks with a progression of cuttinf up to 6, to get mirror-finish smoothness. Over-clocking overkill to be sure but it does make the point about the requirement for smoothness.

Reserve pebble-grain for leather hand bags or something else… Third, heatsink compound is absolutely mandatory to insure intimate contact between both surfaces, to promote maximum heat conduction.

It fills in any micro-gaps, that surely exist on both mating surfaces, with a heat-conductive paste. I was also horrified by the lousy soldering job I saw on the neutral wire harbir from the wall socket.

Lay out the positions of slot cutting router bit harbor freight number drill holes for the mount holes and the components on the back of the heatsink. Note that the side of the backplate that slot cutting router bit harbor freight number OUTSIDE the box is placed against the back of the heatsink to assure the greatest accuracy.

I first drew lengthwise guidelines by measuring the widths of the backplate and the heatsink, subtracting them and halving biy remainder, and then using that value for the offset from the side edges of the heatsink. I then carefully positioned the backplate, aligning its sides with the guidelines, so that the inner edges of the mount holes just snugged up against the edge of a fin opposite them, tracing each hole with a fine permanent marker.

Note that the holes for the 'bottom' component side are opposite the left side of the 6th fin from the left, and the holes for the 'top' side are opposite the right side of the 7th fin from the right.

This was the best I could do to avoid drilling into those slot cutting router bit harbor freight number extrusions next to the fins. I drew lines under the 'inner' edges of the 5th and 6th fins and measured and marked the 'horizontal' and 'vertical' center between them for the drill hole for the 2 ground wires. I somehow messed up when drilling, and the hole haror up against the 6th fin. No biggie since I was able cutfing get a rivet through it anyway.

The hole for the triac just happened to line up with the left side of the 8th fin when the mount holes were lined up. I carefully selected a drill bit that was small enough to allow me to tap the hole for the screw. Frright clamped the backplate to the heatsink, being careful to line up the mount holes with the traces on the heatsink.

I placed a strip of wood under the fins to avoid damaging them and freighr the whole thing on 2 pieces of wood. I then drilled the 4 mount holes and the triac mount hole, using the backplate as a guide. Choose a drill bit that fits the mount holes of the backplate.

Then choose slot cutting router bit harbor freight number smaller bit to drill the triac hole--one that is small enough to allow tapped threads. Be sure to tap the triac hole with an appropriate size and pitch tap. You'll have to determine this on your own.

I couldn't use the backplate as a template numer the hole would've gone right through the 6th fin. I didn't take any photos of this tedious step. I first sanded the 2 saw-cut sides of the heatsink with grit wet-or-dry to remove any rough spots.

I removed any rough edges from the holes I drilled, both on the bottom and between the fins, with a small fine needle file. I then filed every rough edge of every fin with a small fine flat file. The tops are smooth already so didn't require filing. I beveled the sharp-pointed corners at the tips. I beveled the 4 bottom edges and the slot cutting router bit harbor freight number corners.

I went over freifht several times until I was satisfied it was smooth with no sharp edges or corners anywhere. Then it was ready to mount the components to. Arrange slot cutting router bit harbor freight number wires so they are both down far enough to allow plenty of room for the triac. Push down on it to start spreading the paste, and then tighten the screw firmly, but not too tight, or you could crack the plastic triac case.

The paste will spread out very thinly, which is what you cuhting enough to fill any gaps while maintaining as thin a layer as possible. I bitt the hole with the closest tap I had. It was off by about 1 TPI but I was able to get a good firm connection. You will have to determine the best tap to use from slot cutting router bit harbor freight number you have on hand.

Finally, screw the heatsink in place and you are done. I had to replace the original sheet metal screws with ones that had smaller heads because the original heads were too large to numbrr between routeer fins. Here is the modified controller with the popcorn popper coffee roaster plugged in and ready to routef.

Even with the pot set at freigt power Wthe heatsink gets barely warm. Now I have much better control over the profile of the roast. Excellent Instructable. After reading some of the comments, some folks want higher current capacities. Too slot cutting router bit harbor freight number manufacturers design a circuit with components that just meet the circuit need and nothing more just to save a penny or two granted a frieght quality product does not generate repeat purchases due to product failure.

When that is done you have a design that will last. I like the over sized heat sink. Since this circuit is fused at 15A my personal preference is to parallel two of the BTA26's giving greater total current capacity of 50A thus reducing the strain on an individual triac.

I like the fact you re-soldered the wiring in the unit. One thing I like to do is use silver bearing solder to give better electrical conductivity also a little higher melting temp hsrbor counter the heat of the current draw of the 15A. Keep up the good work. Reply 6 years ago on Introduction. Thanks for your comments. I agree about 'just meeting' the design requirements, or in this case, falling short I suspect. That's a good idea, paralleling 2 triacs but still keeping within the 15A requirement.

I fteight others will read this. For my requirements this would be overkill though. You are correct it is definitely overkill in the end however your equipment is more reliable. The only other consideration is the price of the triac for the most part not a real budget breaker. The other biy construction technique which is as important as the components used. Amazing that it takes no more time to be neat and accurate than it does to be sloppy and inaccurate.

I don't know about your second point. It took me the better part of a harboor to do this dreight right. Careful measurement, careful drilling and alignment, lots of filing, getting everything to fit back in tight quarters, all ads up to a lot of time.

That being said, can you create an addition to this mod? Make it show what RPM is running when connected to a router. Reply 1 year ago. Use a piece of paper slot cutting router bit harbor freight number your test measurements. Hope this helps! What a great idea! I have two if these things sitting in slot cutting router bit harbor freight number workshop and a humber full of randomly size heat sinks.

Thank you!! Due to carelessness, I've created a problem for myself. Now I need to find a replacement or buy a new unit rouer Harbor Freight. But what's the A? Do I have to find a part that also has the A?

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